KRASNOYARSK, June 08. /ITAR-TASS/. Vitaly Churkin, Russia’s Permanent Representative at the United Nations, says he is skeptical about the prospects of introducing United Nations peacekeepers to Ukraine, since this step requires Kiev’s consent.

“It will require the consent from Kiev, from the Ukrainian government,” he said in an interview with the Sunday Evening programme on Russia’s television Channel One. “It is a regular practice to ask for such consent. And today, if Kiev plans to continue its force operation in the eastern regions, it is not obvious that they will accede to the presence of such peacekeeping contingent, as long as they want to solve this problem by force. But I hope this attitude will be changed.”

Nonetheless, he said that the world community can play a positive role in the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis. “The United National can play its role as a political instrument,” Churkin said. “Now we are trying to enroll the help from United Nations humanitarian officials in promoting our resolution we have submitted recently - at the very beginning of our presidency - on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine’s eastern regions.”

He said it was unrealistic to apply Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter to Ukraine. “In theoretical terms, there is such a possibility that the United Nations passes a resolution of Chapter 7 of the United Nations Charter, which provides for the use of force, and introduces its peacekeeping contingent to Ukraine without any consent from its government. But it is an absolutely unrealistic scenario, since there won’t be many willing to form such a contingent. This is the case when United Nations peacekeeping activity cannot play its role,” the Russian diplomat noted.